Sapta Rishis In Bhagavad Gita

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

In the article onGuru Pūrṇimā 2018, there is reference to Sapta Riṣi bhojana. Lord Krishna talked about Sapta Riṣi-s in Bhagavad Gītā (X. 6 – 9), which is reproduced below from the ESSENCE OF BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ

“The seven great sages and their primeval four, the fourteen Manus are all devoted to Me and were born out of My will and from whom all the creatures of the world have descended. The one, who understands my Supreme divine glory, gets always established in Me through his unfaltering devotion and there is no doubt about this. I am the source of everything and from Me the entire creation evolves. Knowing this fully well, the wise constantly worship Me with unceasing devotion. With their thoughts wholly fixed on Me, by totally surrendering unto Me and by their mutual and crystallizing discussions on Me they always remain contended by taking immense delight in Me.”

Reference to the seven well known great sages and their primeval four refer to the personification of Self-realisation through devotion. These eleven seers had attained the absolute spiritual perfection. The seven sages are also known as Sapta Riṣi-s (sapta means seven and riṣi means sage.) They are Marīci, Aṅgirās, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and Vaṣiṣtha. There is also a reference to Gotama, Bharadvāja, Viśvāmitra, Jamadagni, Vasiṣṭha, Kaśyapa, and Atri as seven sages. Only Vasiṣṭha and Atri find place in both the references. It is also said elsewhere that the seven sages refer to seven types of breath and there is a reference to this in Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad. It is also said that names of the seven sages differ according to different manvantara-s. Each mantvantara comprises of millions of human years. There are fourteen such manvantaras and each manvantara is headed by a Manu. Manvantara is a symbolic representation of infinite time period. Primeval four refers to the psychic sons of Lord of Creation Brahmā and their names are Sanaka, Sana, Sanatkumāra, and Sanandana. These four were initiated by Lord Dakṣiṇāmūrti, a form of Shiva. The four sages are highly learned and said to be foremost amongst all sages and saints. Hence, Krishna makes special reference to them. When Krishna says that the entire creation was originated from them, He means their position of being heads of different lineages, also known as gotra-s. The point driven home by Krishna is that when seers of the highest purity are united with Me all the time, why not you? Krishna subtly tells Arjuna that he has to further evolve to attain liberation. It is important to remember that Krishna gives His sermons to Arjuna in the midst of a deadly battlefield.

Having made s reference to those great sages, Krishna again proceeds to emphasize the importance of staying connected with Him all the time. This is possible by sincere devotion that ultimately gets transformed as true love for the Lord. Devotion is the initial stage and Love for the Lord is the advanced stage in spirituality. Brahman is the only source of creation. But due to ignorance, men resort to gods with forms, which means that men choose to worship the Brahman with attributes, His illusionary aspect, which is His māyā form. Krishna wants everyone to worship Him as the Brahman without attributes or nirguna Brahman, His purest form, from which everything originates and into which everything dissolves. In spite of this fact, the Brahman remains unchanged. The wise men come to know of this Truth by means of their rumination and experience. True spiritual experience begins to happen only after a long and intent period of proper meditation. Wise share among themselves their experiences, as the spiritual experience is not always the same with everyone.

Krishna again explains the basic requirements to transform oneself like great sages and saints who always remain submerged in the intent bliss of the Lord. Knowledge, intent concentration and unceasing devotion that gets transformed into perpetual love for the Lord are the requirements of realizing Him. Ego should be completely shed by surrendering to the Lord that should happen through thought process. There cannot be any other thoughts either good or bad that exist in the mind. In spirituality, thought is always a thought; whether it is good or bad does not matter, as there cannot be any intervening thought while contemplating on the Lord.